RAMALLAH, West Bank, 13 March 2008 — Hours after Hamas publicly set its terms for a cease-fire with Israel, calling for an end to Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory and a reopening of the Gaza border crossings, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

A source in Islamic Jihad, which lost three members, including a local leader, in the Bethlehem raid, vowed revenge. He said, “The enemy has no interest in calm.” Islamic Jihad is among groups that Egypt had hoped to coax into holding rocket fire from Gaza in a bid to bolster US-sponsored peace talks between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

As part of any cease-fire, Hamas — which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas’ forces there — is demanding a say in the future functioning of the coastal territory’s border crossings, a condition rejected by Israel.

“There must be a commitment by Israel to end all acts of aggression against our people, assassinations, killings and raids, and lift the (Gaza) siege and reopen the crossings,” Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas’ administration in Gaza, said in a speech.

A cease-fire, he said, should be “reciprocal, comprehensive and simultaneous,” applying both to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and be approved by other Palestinian factions.

“We will not abandon you, our people in the West Bank,” Haniyeh said. “Aggression against you is aggression against us.”

Hamas had previously been vague about whether it would insist on including the West Bank in any Gaza truce.

Before the Bethlehem killings, Israel appeared to rebuff the idea of halting Israel’s West Bank operations.

Witnesses said a team of Israeli commandos disguised as local Palestinians and riding in a Bethlehem taxi drove up to a car full of Palestinians and sprayed it with bullets.

Television footage showed three dead men, sprawled out and bloody in the shattered vehicle. Another man lay on the tarmac as a Palestinian passersby tried in vain to revive him. An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment.

— With input from agencies